task of the month

I did SSILD to get a lucid dream after a WBTB. This time, the efficacy of the technique dawned on me. It isn't about the cycles or how long you do them, it is about the mere act of paying attention. It's about the mental act of bring background noises, sensations and objects to the foreground of awareness; noticing subtle things like: how one's cloths touch the skin, how tense or relaxes muscles are, the sound of the fan, the chirping of the birds and crickets, the weird shapes in the darkness of vision.

The mere act of paying very close attention stimulates the mind to the extent that the next time I fall asleep, I can't help but notice I am dreaming. Of course, I've only done this one time so more trials are needed. This hypothesis seems very plausible and could explain why techniques I've invented in the past have worked - staring through the eyes, mindfulness meditation, SSILD, listening to the white noise in the ears; they all require me to pay attention during my WBTB period.

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The dream featured me walking down my street and trying to stabilize the dream. I call out repeated for Gray to appear; the dream character I have chosen to act as a goal for dream control. No matter how many times I call out, she doesn't appear. I attempt to walk to the park around my home and make it far enough until I find myself in a hallway; the end of it being a bookshelf. I close my eyes in the dream and imagine myself having the ability to walk through solid objects. I phase through the shelf and find myself on the other side in a room.

I find Gray sitting on a park bench inside this room. We greet each other and the dream ends.

Had two lucid dreams this morning. After today, I am taking my lucid dreaming technique to the next level. What I have changed over the last couple of weeks is that I am meditating 30 minutes before bed as outlined in Tipharot's video. I am also meditating for 30 minutes during my WBTB period in the early morning. However, I have been noticing the connection between the minds eye - the faculty used for visualization - and lucid dreaming in general. I was fortunate enough to wake up 2 hours earlier than I would have normally liked to for my WBTB session. I immediately went back to sleep. Whilst doing so, I Visualized that I was standing in my kitchen. The visualization pulled me in after about a minute and I began my lucid dream. Found the dream character, Naomi, and went on an adventure with her. I found her through sure expectation that she would be where I was going. In other words, when I am lucid, I am still visualizing.

I woke up later at my normal time for the actual WBTB. I meditated for 20 minutes when lie back down. This time around, I visualized that I was standing my bedroom beside my bed. This was a bit tricky because it's hard to visualize yourself in another orientation when lying down to sleep. Can't just visualize sight, must visualize touch and body orientation. I had trouble falling asleep which meant I was trying too hard so I relaxed a little. When I felt relaxed enough so I could feel myself falling asleep, I went back to the visualization of me standing in my bedroom with my eyes opened. It was working because, I started feeling hypnagogia that was pulling me in to the dream world. The feeling of being immersed into the visualization is a sure sign that it is working.

I knew I was in a dream when I could feel my dream body get out of bed yet still sort of feel my real body. Therefore, I was moving my legs around with my eyes closed trying to feel my way out of my bed room. Once again, Visualization is key. Eventually, the visuals will come together once you expect them.